Matthias Jaeger

Education

A German national, Matthias holds an M.A. in Law and Latin American Studies from Bielefeld University and an M.A. in International Public Policy from the Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington D.C. In addition, he pursued a three-month post-graduate certificate in Peace and Conflict Resolution at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. Matthias is fluent in English and Spanish, in addition to his German mother tongue and intermediate Portuguese.

Professional experiences

Matthias is an international cooperation professional with more than twelve years of experience at the intersection of program management, capacity development, and resource mobilization in both non-governmental contexts and international organizations. He worked for ten years for different German and European government agencies abroad as well as the German Bertelsmann Foundation, Europe’s biggest think tank. At the Foundation, Matthias coordinated the “Bertelsmann Transformation Index (BTI)”, one of the world’s leading governance indices, as well as the prestigious young-leaders program “Transformation Thinkers”, an inter-regional exchange on good governance for decision-makers from countries in transition. After joining the Organization of American States (OAS) in Washington D.C. in early 2014, Matthias created a program on transparency, participation, and civic innovation called the “OAS Fellowship on Open Government in the Americas”, which he currently coordinates. Matthias has published over twenty articles on international affairs in newspapers and academic journals in Germany, Mexico, and the US.

Areas of interest

Matthias has a strong regional focus on Latin America and a keen interest in human rights and the rule of law, democratic governance, anti-corruption strategies, citizen security, democratization processes, and international development. In his spare time, Matthias serves as an international election observer for the OSCE (in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Tajikistan) as well as the OAS (so far in Guatemala and El Salvador). He also enjoys long-distance running and jazz.